Today, however, he will get up close and personal with Blues defender Kompany at the Etihad Stadium. And the Tartan Army would be delighted if Kompany was left reeling – and fearing another match-up when the pair meet on international duty.

Pundit Gallacher can’t wait to see who comes out on top and gains the psychological advantage ahead of the Group A clash in Brussels.

He said: “The Kompany and Fletcher duel will be an intriguing contest. Fletcher has played against Kompany before and it is not a strange game for him.

“He is on fire at the moment and this is a massive test for him. Both players will want to get one over on the other ahead of the international.

“If Fletcher plays well then Kompany will be more wary of him the next time they meet. Part of me wishes Fletcher has a bad game and produces the goods for Scotland.

“It would be great if he wrote the fairytale script – scoring the winner against Belgium on his return to the international team.

“We need to get our World Cup campaign back on track and everybody wants to see Scotland winning matches.

“I read a stat that Fletcher has had seven shots on goal for Sunderland and scored five goals since his £14million move from Wolves.

“He is also the first man in history to score the first five goals of the season for the club. The interest in this fixture in Scotland will be massive now and a lot of people will be tuning in to see how Fletcher performs in this match.

“His goalsoring run of late has been incredible and he has hit form at the right time for Sunderland.Here’s hoping he can reproduce that for Scotland.”

Gallacher, who represented his country 53 times, welcomed the news that Fletcher and Levein had settled their differences.

He said: “I’m delighted the Fletcher issue has been resolved because we want to see Scotland qualify for major tournaments.

“He is one of our best players and he needs to be involved. He has had an unbelievable start to his career at Sunderland and nobody predicted that.

“The biggest compliment anybody can pay him is that he is the perfect striker and is scoring every type of goal. Even when the chances are few and far between at Sunderland he has taken them.

“He is playing in that lone striker role for his club that Scotland seem to have adopted so it would be a seemless transition for him.

“I just hope he can get the service and chances to score goals because he is a player who is really at the top of his game just now.”

Meanwhile, Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini knows Adam Johnson could make life difficult for his side at the Etihad Stadium.

He often tipped Johnson for big things after signing him for £7m in 2010 but the winger grew frustrated at a lack of first-team opportunities and joined Sunderland in August.

Mancini said: “Adam played well here. The problem was maybe that he didn’t play always. For young players like him it is important to play every game.

“I am sure he will do well for Sunderland. He is a good guy and a good player.

“I hope he can have a good game because I think he is a really top player.

“He wanted to play every game and here it was difficult so he decided to leave.”